Cartography & Web3

ABSTRACT

Cartography is not an isolated discipline, but develops on the basis of many external impulses. The advent of web technologies has had a major impact on changes in cartography in recent decades. Successive generations of the Web have transformed the world of maps from static digital images, to servers providing map output, to complex interactive web applications and mash-ups. We are currently witnessing the emergence and development of the next new generation of the Web, which is referred to as Web3. Web3 is best known for its connection to the world of cryptocurrencies. This article considers the relationship between cartography and Web3 in particular. Are there opportunities that Web3 will offer cartographers? The article describes the basic features of the Web3 concept and their relation to the fields of cartography, which are considered by many experts as promising for the future. It concludes with two examples of Web3- based products related to maps and cartography. The aim of the paper is mainly to start a discussion regarding the evolutionary changes in cartography that may occur due to the emergence of Web3 technologies such as Blockchain.

RÉSUMÉ

La cartographie n'est pas une discipline isolée mais se développe grâce à de nombreuses impulsions externes. L'arrivée des technologies web a eu un impact majeur sur les évolutions en cartographie ces dernières décennies. Les générations successives du web ont transformé le monde des cartes fait d'images statiques en serveurs fournissant des cartes jusqu'aux applications web interactives complexes et aux « mash-up ». Nous sommes à présent témoins de l'émergence et du développement de la dernière nouvelle génération du web appelée Web3. Le Web3 est avant tout connu pour ses liens avec le monde des cryptomonnaies. Cet article se concentre en particulier sur les liens entre la cartographie et le Web3. Le Web3 va-t-il offrir des opportunités à la cartographie ? Ce papier décrit les éléments de base du concept Web3 et leurs relations avec le champ de la cartographie, qui sont considérés comme très prometteurs par de nombreux experts. Le papier se termine par deux exemples de produits basés sur le web3 et en relation avec les cartes et la cartographie. L'objectif de ce papier est principalement d'ouvrir une discussion sur les changements évolutifs en cartographie qui pourraient arriver avec l'émergence des technologies du Web3 dont la blockchain.

KEYWORDS:

• Cartography
• web cartography
• Internet
• Web3
• blockchain

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 https://observer.com/2021/12/jack-dorsey-elon-musk-and-vcs-are-arguing-about-web3-what-is-it-and-why-does-it-matter/

2 www.bennettinstitute.cam.ac.uk/

3 ethereum.org

4 polkadot.network

5 Neogeography is a ‘socially networked mapping platform which makes it easy to find, create, share, and publish maps and places’ (Eisnor & Wilson, 2006).

6 sandbox.game

7 upland.me

8 somniumspace.com

9 decentraland.org

10 Example of the price of the virtual parcel illustrates the extreme volatility of cryptocurrencies. The same piece of land was worth more than a quarter of a million dollars in December 2021.

11 internet.icaci.org

12 icaci.org

13 foam.space

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Otakar Čerba

Otakar Čerba, Ph.D. works at the Department of Geomatics (Faculty of Applied Sciences, University of West Bohemia, Plzeň, Czech Republic). He is focused on web cartography, thematic cartography, Linked Data on the geographic domain and semantic issues of geographic data. He has been involved in many international projects such as Humboldt, SDI4Apps, SmartOpenData, Plan4all or ROSIE. Otakar Čerba is the members of the board of Czech Cartographic Association and the chair of the Commission on Maps and the the Internet of International Cartographic Association.

Tomáš Andrš

Tomáš Andrš graduated in Geomatics at the Faculty of Applied Sciences of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen (Czech Republic).

Loïc Fournier

Loïc Fournier is a student at École Supérieure d'Ingénieurs en Électrotechnique et Électronique, Paris, France.

Martin Vaněk

Martin Vaněk graduated in Geomatics at the Faculty of Applied Sciences of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen (Czech Republic). He is enrolled in a PhD program focusing on 3D cadastre and BIM.